Royal Caribbean will give guests three additional months to take advantage of its flexible cancellation policy.

The Cruise with Confidence program has been extended through April 30, 2021 for sailings departing through April 30, 2022.

The popular program allows guests to cancel a cruise for any reason up to 48 hours before a sailing is scheduled to depart in exchange for a 100% future cruise credit.

Cruise with Confidence also includes the ability to take advantage of a lower price through the Best Price Guarantee.

All active bookings confirmed on or before April 30, 2021 for Royal Caribbean sailings through April 2022 (excluding Chartered sailings) are included in the Cruise with Confidence program.

Prior to this change, the program would have ended on January 31, 2021.

Lift & Shift is ending

This extension does not apply to Lift and Shift, and Royal Caribbean says its current plan is to discontinue the program as of February 1, 2021.

Lift and Shift allows guests to move their reservation by a year and protect the original cruise fare and promotion to a qualifying sailing departing on or before April 30, 2022 on the same itinerary type, sailing length, stateroom category, and within 4 weeks before or after the date of their original cruise. 

Guests are eligible to move their reservation under the Lift & Shift guidelines between now and January 31, 2021 to sailings departing through April 2022 only. After this point, Lift & Shift will expire and is no longer available.

Read more: Top 10 Royal Caribbean Lift and Shift questions

Extending the flexibility

In an email to travel agents, Royal Caribbean said the Cruise with Confidence program has been "very popular" for the benefits it provides.

The Cruise with Confidence program was introduced at the beginning of the health crisis, and provides significantly relaxed rules concerning canceling a cruise if the situation changes for a guest.

Ordinarily, guests would incur a penalty for canceling a sailing beyond the final payment date, which is typically 90 days before a sailing commences. Cruise with Confidence provides a great deal more flexibility to change minds with no penalty.

Today's change means Cruise with Confidence will be available for an additional three months, although it looks like Lift and Shift will come to an end.

Lift & Shift has been extremely popular for the price protection it offered, and was an option other cruise lines did not offer either.

How does Cruise with Confidence work?

Ever since Royal Caribbean shut down cruises in March, it has offered guests increased flexibility in being able to change their minds due to the fluid nature of news and the global health crisis.

Essentially, Cruise with Confidence is the name of the program that allows guests to change or cancel a cruise up to 48 hours before their sail date with no penalty or change fees.

Guests can opt for a 100% Future Cruise Credit that is good for 12 months or more.

The program includes refundable and non-refundable cruise fares, and only excludes chartered sailings.

It is important to note that if you elect to cancel a cruise on your own with this program, and later Royal Caribbean cancels the sailing, you waive any right to receive any refund oft he cruise fare paid.

It is now going to be much easier for everyone to use their Royal Caribbean future cruise credits.

Royal Caribbean announced it will now allow guests to combine multiple future cruise credits (FCCs) on one reservation.

Future cruise credits are vouchers that guests typically get when a cruise is cancelled in lieu of a refund.

Prior to this change, Royal Caribbean only allowed guests to apply one future cruise credit per person on the reservation.  With so many cancelled cruises due to the global health crisis, many guests have FCCs stacking up, and unable to use them all.

The inability to combine future cruise credits is rooted in a policy that predates the cruise industry shutdown of 2020. In short, there was rarely a need to allow FCCs to be combinable since they were not commonly issued to guests.

In a statement to travel agents, Royal Caribbean said, "you are now able to submit multiple FCCs, should your clients have more than one in their name, as well as share the value of FCCs across multiple clients in the same booking. You have asked and we have listened!"

Under the new rules, multiple certificates can be applied to the same client if they were all issued in response to Cruising With Confidence or the Global Sailing Suspension. This also includes Non Refundable Deposit FCCs issued through Cruise with Confidence.

If you have multiple FCCs in your name that were created outside of these programs, they cannot be combined with each other at this time.

Moreover, you are allowed to share the value of FCCs across multiple guests in the same booking, including using a remaining balance from one guest to apply to another in the same booking.

Throughout the shutdown, Royal Caribbean has slowly adjusted its Future Cruise Credit policies to match the changing landscape.  In June, it allowed guests to start using a FCC towards a cruise fare deposit, and in October the cruise line started allowing leftover balances from a FCC not have to wait to apply it to a new reservation.

Royal Caribbean had begun allowing guests to combine FCCs when a cruise was cancelled, but only when a new FCC was issued.

Future Cruise Credits are an option for guests who either choose to cancel their cruise up to 48 hours before the sail date via the Cruise with Confidence program, or have their cruise cancelled by Royal Caribbean. In either case, a voucher code is provided that can be redeemed for the value of the sailing.

When Royal Caribbean cancels the sailing, the Future Cruise Credit is worth 125% the value of the cruise fare that the guest paid.

What can I use a future cruise credit for?

Future cruise credits have become widely available due to the current voluntary cruise shutdown that Royal Caribbean is engaged in, which means while cruises are being cancelled due to the global health crisis, Royal Caribbean is offering guests future cruise credits.

Royal Caribbean allows guests to use their future cruise credits to pay their cruise fare, including the deposit.

It cannot be used towards add-on purchases, like drink packages, shore excursions, port fees or taxes.

More information

• Top ways you cannot use your Royal Caribbean future cruise credits
• Top 8 things you should know about Royal Caribbean's 125% onboard credit offer
• Five lessons I've learned from all these cancelled cruises

You will have more time to use your future cruise credits from all of those cancelled cruises.

Royal Caribbean announced it has extended the expiration date of its future cruise credits (FCCs) until September 2022.

The FCCs are valid to book by by April 30, 2022 and sail by September 30th, 2022.

Prior to this change, you had until April 2022 to use your Future Cruise Credits. This provides an extra 4 months of sailings to apply a FCC, including the ability to apply them towards summer 2022 cruises.

This change applies to:

• Global sailing suspension FCCs
• Cruise with Confidence FCCs
• Non-refundable deposit credits issued after March 13, 2020
• Pre-Cruise Planner Onboard Credits

Vicki Freed, Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President, Sales, Trade Support and Service, told travel agents the change was made based on feedback travel advisors have shared with the cruise line.

Future Cruise Credits are issued at the time of cancellation to be used within a certain timeframe, but with more and more cruises being cancelled, there is concern guests might run out of time to redeem them.

What can future cruise credits be used for?

Future cruise credits are vouchers that guests typically get when a cruise is cancelled in lieu of a refund, which are similar to gift certificate.

Future cruise credits have become widely available due to the current voluntary cruise shutdown that Royal Caribbean is engaged in, which means while cruises are being cancelled due to the global health crisis, Royal Caribbean is offering guests future cruise credits.

Royal Caribbean allows guests to use their future cruise credits to pay their cruise fare, including the deposit.

It cannot be used towards add-on purchases, like drink packages, shore excursions, port fees or taxes.

More information

• Top ways you cannot use your Royal Caribbean future cruise credits
• Top 8 things you should know about Royal Caribbean's 125% onboard credit offer
• Five lessons I've learned from all these cancelled cruises

Royal Caribbean announced on Wednesday it has simplified when guests can use their future cruise credits (FCCs) by extending the expiration date to April 30th, 2022, regardless of when the sailing suspension occurred..

This change means guests have until April 30th, 2022 to apply your certificate to a Royal Caribbean International cruise that sets sail on or before the same date. 

The change is automatic, and there is nothing extra guests have to do to have their FCC extended.

Prior to this announcement, most FCCs were set to expire on December 31, 2020.

Royal Caribbean informed travel agents that the continued cruise shutdown has lasted much longer than anticipated, and as a result, this extension made sense.

"We never imagined the pause in cruising to last as long as it has. At the onset of the pandemic, rebooking deadlines and opt-in dates provided ample time for future vacation planning and cruise credit redemption — however, as time has progressed, the window of opportunity has narrowed."

Last month, Royal Caribbean had extended Future Cruise Credits that were going to expire by the end of 2020.  Today's announcement moves everyone ahead again to the end of April 2022.

Emails have been sent to guests who had future cruise credits to inform them of this change.

What can I use a future cruise credit for?

Future cruise credits are vouchers that guests typically get when a cruise is cancelled in lieu of a refund. You can think of them as a kind of gift certificate.

Future cruise credits have become widely available due to the current voluntary cruise shutdown that Royal Caribbean is engaged in, which means while cruises are being cancelled due to the global health crisis, Royal Caribbean is offering guests future cruise credits.

Royal Caribbean allows guests to use their future cruise credits to pay their cruise fare, including the deposit.

It cannot be used towards add-on purchases, like drink packages, shore excursions, port fees or taxes.

Royal Caribbean is informing guests who have unused Future Cruise Credit (FCC) that were set to expire at the end of 2020 they will get an extra year to apply them to a new booking.

Royal Caribbean decided to extend future cruise credits that were issued before the global cruise shutdown began and were set to expire on December 31, 2020.

UPDATE: The extensions apply to all Future Cruise Credits that were going to expire between March 14, 2020 - December 30, 2021.

Instead, these credits will now be extended until December 31, 2021.

This change does not affect future cruise credits from the voluntary cruise suspension, as those future cruise credits are not scheduled to expire until December 31, 2021 already.

Emails have been sent to guests who had future cruise credits to inform them of this change.

"We know options have been more limited than normal and you may not have had the opportunity to use your Future Cruise Credit (FCC). Not to worry though! We want to make sure your credits don't go unused, so we've decided to extend your Future Cruise Credit until December 31st, 2021."

The FCC will automatically be updated no later than Monday, November 16, 2020 to reflect the new expiration date.

How do you get a future cruise credit?

Future Cruise Credits are given to guests and represent a certain value that can be applied to a new cruise reservation.

It most most often given as an alternative to a refund, although many times refunds may not be available.

Future cruise credits have become widely available due to the current voluntary cruise shutdown that Royal Caribbean is engaged in, which means while cruises are being cancelled due to the global health crisis, Royal Caribbean is offering guests future cruise credits.

In fact, the Cruise with Confidence program offers flexible terms for cancelling your cruise up to 48 hours before your sail date.  If you elect to cancel a cruise under Cruise with Confidence, you are eligible to receive a future cruise credit worth 100% of the money you paid.

Royal Caribbean has changed a rule about how guests can use their future cruise credits (FCC) to make it much easier if you have leftover credit.

If a guest uses their FCC for a sailing and has a leftover balance, they do not have to wait for the first sailing to complete before applying the remainder.

Prior to the change made this week by Royal Caribbean, guests had to wait until the first sailing was over before they could use any remainder credits from that voucher.

With this new change, Royal Caribbean allows guests to redeem a FCC on two active bookings.

Royal Caribbean alerted travel agents to this change this week:

"Enhancements have been made to the existing FCC process where any balance remaining on an FCC no longer has to await the return of the existing cruise vacation before applying the balance to a future/new reservation. That means the same FCC can now be redeemed on 2 active bookings! Once a portion of the FCC is applied to a reservation, the remaining balance FCC will be generated and, in turn, sent to your client for use as they wish. Please note that any FCC with a pending balance from the past few months will now be run through this process, with an anticipated completion date for all by end-of-October."

The old policy for only allowing an FCC to be used on one sailing at a time was a policy that originated well-before the current global cruise shutdown.

In fact, future cruise credits were fairly rare for guests to have before this year, but so many guests now have at least one FCC to use due to all the cancelled cruises in 2020.

Royal Caribbean has slowly changed some of the FCC rules because of all the cancelled cruises, including being able to use a FCC towards a deposit and even allowing guests to combine FCCs.

Future Cruise Credits are an option for guests who either choose to cancel their cruise up to 48 hours before the sail date via the Cruise with Confidence program, or have their cruise cancelled by Royal Caribbean. In either case, a voucher code is provided that can be redeemed for the value of the sailing.

When Royal Caribbean cancels the sailing, the Future Cruise Credit is worth 125% the value of the cruise fare that the guest paid.

Have more questions about a FCC? These stories will help:

• Royal Caribbean Future Cruise Credit: What you need to know
• Top ways you cannot use your Royal Caribbean future cruise credits
• What happens if I want to cancel my Royal Caribbean cruise?

Royal Caribbean has extended its Cruise with Confidence cancellation policy to now include sailings through November 30, 2020.

The popular program allows guests to cancel a cruise for any reason up to 48 hours before a sailing is scheduled to depart in exchange for a future cruise credit.

It was scheduled to end on September 30, 2020 prior to the extension.

In addition, the Lift and Shift option will be extended to November 30, 2020.  Lift and Shift allows guests to defer their cruise by a year.

The Cruise with Confidence program was introduced at the beginning of the health crisis, and provides significantly relaxed rules concerning canceling a cruise if the situation changes for a guest.

Royal Caribbean Group chairman and CEO Richard Fain thinks this extension makes a lot of sense for guests, "We want our guests to feel they can safely keep their existing cruise bookings or schedule new sailings, because this policy gives them more freedom and flexibility."

Ordinarily, guests would incur a penalty for canceling a sailing beyond the final payment date, which is typically 90 days before a sailing commences. Cruise with Confidence provides a great deal more flexibility to change minds with no penalty.

The extension applies to all cruises with sailing dates on or before April 2022, and applies to the company’s global brands Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Azamara.

Cruise with Confidence future cruise credits expire on December 31, 2021 or 12 months from the cancellation date, whichever is further out.

One of Royal Caribbean's most popular ways to move a booked cruise during the shutdown is about to expire.

The Lift and Shift program allows guests to take a booking they have and move to next year, while keeping the price they have locked in from this year.

Lift and Shift is set to expire as an option to use at the end of this month, and RoyalCaribbeanBlog has learned there are no plans to extend it.

An email from a Royal Caribbean Strategic Account Manager confirmed the program is set to expire, "Currently we do not have a plan to extend the Lift & Shift past this end of the month.  Should anything change with the Global suspension, dates will be adjusted accordingly. "

Since being offered as an option during the global cruise shutdown, Lift and Shift has proven to be a practical and lucrative option for guests who simply wish to push off their cruise until the same time next year.

Not only does it avoid having to cancel a reservation, get a refund, and then re-book and re-pay for everything, it also allows the guest to keep their current price, which is often lower than the price of a cruise next year.

Until September 30, guests can protect their original cruise fare and promotional offer by shifting to a future sailing on the same itinerary type, length, stateroom category and within the same four-week period of their original cruise date same time next year.

Guests are eligible to rebook under the Lift & Shift guidelines between now and September 30, 2020. After this point, Lift & Shift expires and is no longer eligible.

Note that while Lift & Shift is set to expire, the Cruise with Confidence program still allows customers to cancel their cruise up to 48 hours before their cruise and recieve a Future Cruise Credit for sailings that set sail on or before April 30th, 2022.

Guests with Royal Caribbean cruises scheduled for later this year are seeing check-in times that are later than usually offered by the cruise line.

A number of sailings for November and December 2020 are showing cruise check-in times that go as late as 5:30pm.

Check-in times for Adventure of the Seas December 4, 2020 sailing

Check-in times for Mariner of the Seas November 20, 2020 sailing

Check-in times for Oasis of the Seas November 29, 2020 sailing

Prior to Royal Caribbean suspending its sailings in March, the latest check-in time for most sailings was early afternoon.  Typically, Royal Caribbean ships would depart in the mid to late afternoon.

There has been speculation that one of the new procedures Royal Caribbean may adopt in order to foster social distancing during the check-in process is to spread guests out with more check-in times.

In the weeks before cruises shutdown, Royal Caribbean was already thoroughly sanitizing the cruise ship terminal before and after every sailing. They also added special sanitizing of high traffic areas onboard the ship.

The extra cleaning takes time, which may require cruise ships to push back their departure times in order to accommodate all of these (and other possible) changes.

Royal Caribbean has only hinted at a few possible changes it will embrace once cruises resume. The cruise line is still developing its full set of policies and procedures, which will not be announced until at least the end of September.

Thanks to RoyalCaribbeanBlog readers Thomas Bissland, Meagan Mapson, Joanne Griffith & Judy Carson for their assistance in this post.

Whether you are new to Royal Caribbean or struggling to get a resolution to your current situation, sometimes we all need a little more help to get pointed in the right direction for answers.

Months of cancelled cruises have not been an easy transition for any cruise line, including Royal Caribbean, but there are some easy steps for getting answers if you are trying to sort out options, or get an update on your refund status.

Getting basic questions answered

Your catch-all place to get questions answered is by contacting Royal Caribbean directly for reservation updates, status questions, and other customer service inquiries.

The most straightforward method of contacting Royal Caribbean is to call them on their toll-free number at 800-256-6649. 

If you have taken at least one Royal Caribbean cruise in the past, you should call the Crown and Anchor Society number for (sometimes) faster service at 800-526-9723.

If you have a question about a specific reservation and booked with a travel agent, you will need to contact your travel agent for those concerns.

While phones are easy, contacting Royal Caribbean on social media has proven to be a very effective and quick way to get answers too. 

You can send the cruise line a message on their Twitter and Facebook pages for answers as well. Not only does this save you a phone call, the social media team is very responsive in providing answers to a myriad of questions.

Refunds and Future Cruise Credits

Refunds are not an instant process, but many cruisers have reported it taking a number of weeks to be processed.

The good news is refunds are flowing and being processed, but some of the older cancellations strangely take the longest to get through. It is far from perfect, but they are getting better and better at it.

According to Royal Caribbean's website, in most cases, refunds will post to the original form of payment about 7 to 10 days after they’re fully processed. However, some refunds may take up to 30 days to post. 

Work with your travel agent

First and foremost, if you booked your cruise with a travel agent, be sure to work that person to get things sorted out.

Your travel agent has new digital tools they can access to check on the progress of a refund request, as well as be able to reach out to the right person at Royal Caribbean for further inquiries, such as if the refund amount is incorrect.

Contacting Royal Caribbean directly

If your cruise was booked directly with the cruise line, then you will need contact them for status updates.

If your cruise was cancelled by the cruise line, you can avoid waiting on the phone to cancel by using an online form. If you want a FCC, there is nothing extra to do, as it will automatically be selected for you by a certain date. 

If you want to cancel, request a refund, or rebook under Lift & Shift, use the online form to process it.

You can always call Royal Caribbean's Crown and Anchor Society number at 800-526-9723 to also get updates and questions answered.

More helpful information

If you have more questions about canceling your cruise (or if Royal Caribbean cancels it for you), here are some helpful resources:

• Royal Caribbean Cancellations - Updates, Refunds & FAQs
• What happens if I want to cancel my Royal Caribbean cruise?
• Five lessons I've learned from all these cancelled cruises